


The Omega Fourteen Device

by mandykaysfic



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Ancient Technology, First Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-04
Updated: 2014-02-04
Packaged: 2018-01-11 04:02:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1168435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandykaysfic/pseuds/mandykaysfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney finds an interesting artifact that owes more to Galaxy Quest than it does to the Ancients.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Omega Fourteen Device

Another laboratory. More consoles. No chairs. Didn't the ancients feel the need to sit down or did they take all of the chairs with them when they left? Rodney grumbled to himself. His back would be aching by the time they catalogued everything in this room. His eyes lit up at the sight of a tray holding several dozen unbroken crystals. Something useful! They went through crystals at a terrible rate. He called for someone, anyone, to come and take the bounty to the main lab while he   
looked over a couple of artifacts that sat next to the crystals. 

The cylinder he picked up was different to almost everything else they'd found. No text, in Ancient or anything else, etched upon the surface to provide even the slightest clue as to its function. There was however a decorative border around its bottom edge and a single circle inscribed on the top. He ran a cautious finger around the edge of the circle. The border pattern was a simple ring of double serifed omega symbols. Rodney moved to put it back onto the bench, intending to take it back for further investigation, when a loud crash and a string of curses startled him. “What the -?” The heel of his hand suddenly depressed the top of the cylinder and for a brief second, time seemed to stand still. Then he found himself watching the most incredible scene.

It was like a movie running slowed down and in reverse. Simpson, who'd been sprawled on the floor, surrounded by shards of broken crystal, slowly righted herself backwards, going through each muscle action and joint movement in the exact opposite order in which they'd occurred. The pieces of crystal flew through the air and reformed on the tray that was now back in Simpson's hands. The marine who'd caused the accident by bursting through the door came up from his hands and knees, his cuts healing themselves before they'd had time to register. 

Time rewound until the marine was back in the corridor and the door was closed, while Simpson walked backwards to Rodney and deposited the tray next to him. There was another flicker and once more time flowed forwards. He touched Simpson on the arm. “Woah. Did you...?” he asked.

“Did I what?” Simpson raised an eyebrow and picked up the tray.

“See that? Feel that?”

“Feel what?”

“You didn't notice _anything_?”

She shook her head and took the crystals away. Once again she collided with the marine. This time Rodney was ready. He pressed the top of the cylinder and watched the scene reverse itself. Simpson picked up the tray for the third time. “Wait. There might be some other things that need to go to the lab.” He scanned the bench. “Hold on. There are a couple more crystals.” Adding them slowly, he kept an eye on the door. Once the marine rushed in, gabbled his message and left with one of their security detail, Rodney let Simpson leave. She and the tray of crystals made it out of the door in one piece. His eyes brightened as he thought about what he now held in his hand. Some experimentation was called for.

 

It wasn't in the Ancient database, at least so far as he could tell, and he was reasonably certain it wasn't Ancient anyway, but for the moment Rodney wasn't prepared to surrender it to Zelenka for another opinion. Its function appeared to be the resetting of time by fourteen seconds. The only person aware of the reversal was the person who pressed the button; for everyone else, life went on as normal. Rodney could think of a lot of times a replay of fourteen seconds would be useful. Shot on a mission? Press the button, move to the side, and voilà! No longer in the direct path of an arrow. Needing just a few more seconds to solve a coding problem before a mission goes to hell? Press the button, enter the correct solution and save the day again. Tell Kavanagh what you really think of him without any repercussions? No, he did that already and frequently too. He didn't really want to punch his face when there were so many more creative ways to deal with the moron.

Mostly though, Rodney didn't want to share his discovery because there was something he wanted to do without fear of reprisal. He wanted to kiss Sheppard. Actually, he wanted to do a lot more than kiss him, but now he had the means to do so without risking their friendship or working relationship.

He had it all planned out. Take one of the new Ancient gizmos, probably the one that looked like it might be a ray gun, but so far had refused to turn on for Rodney. Get Sheppard to meet him in one of the small side labs, for safety's sake, naturally. When Sheppard joined him at the bench, Rodney would press the timer on his watch, set to go off after ten seconds, hit the reset button on the device and then he could kiss Sheppard until the buzzer sounded. He'd have four seconds to gauge Sheppard's reaction, and if the worst happened, when everything reset, at least there would be four precious second in which to hand Sheppard the potential weapon before he could make a fool of himself. If it was all good, well, how many people had the opportunity to experience their first kiss with someone a second time?

Rodney fretted over the timing for a bit and even walked his plan through, earnestly practising what he should say and timing it to the nth degree. Barring a Wraith attack or some other crisis. He finally decided he was ready, and before he could change his mind, commed Sheppard. He fiddled with the ray gun, then nearly missed his cue when the placement of its trigger gave him an idea for something else. He practically jumped out of his skin when Sheppard's “Whatcha got there, Rodney?” sounded in his ear, but his planning paid off and he managed to put down the ray gun, hit the button on his watch and take a breath before drawing Sheppard's face to his own.

Every one of his ten seconds had to count. With a hand on either side of Sheppard's jaw, Rodney pressed his lips to Sheppard's. He'd calculated three seconds for closed mouth kisses, allowing two seconds for the shock factor and another second for it to wear off. The next two seconds were to coax Sheppard's mouth open and for him to get with the picture. Then one of his hands slid to the back of Sheppard's neck and into his hair and he tilted their heads to a better angle and gave his all for the remaining five seconds. 

His plan almost failed when his alarm beeped but he didn't want to stop, as exactly on cue Sheppard had kissed him back at the five second mark. He managed to draw back and they both found it necessary to take a few deep breaths as they stared at one another.

“Rodney?”

Then time shifted, Sheppard was walking towards him again and Rodney smiled as he made sure he pushed the device he'd dubbed the Omega Fourteen well to one side. This was going to be the best second first kiss ever.

END


End file.
